Concordia Journal Home > Archives > October 11, 2007 issue >

Our ivy-covered walls 

By Karen Herland

Concordia is about to join the ivy league. At least figuratively.

Lierre sur Pierre, by artist/photographer Geneviève Cadieux, has been selected to grace the northern face of the new JMSB building being constructed at the intersection of Guy St. and De Maisonneuve Blvd.

Cadieux’s proposal was selected by the committee of the Quebec Ministry of Culture, Communications and the Status of Women that funds the Integration of the Arts into Architecture and the Environment Program. Commonly referred to as the 1% program, it allocates about one per cent of the costs associated with the construction of a new public building for an artwork to be created and presented on the site.

Cadieux, whose work has been exhibited across Europe, North America and in Tokyo, is a Studio Arts associate professor here. All four finalists short-listed by the committee for this project had some connection to Concordia’s Fine Arts faculty as professors or students of the program.

On Oct. 9, a model of the artwork was unveiled at the FOFA Gallery. The piece itself will be 550 feet square and feature a vine of reflective, anodized metal climbing up a limestone wall. Cadieux developed the piece as a uniquely Concordian take on the elitist tradition of ivy-covered academe.

“[The vine’s] reflective surface permits the viewer of the urban environment to project him- or herself onto the fabric of the institution, which, since its foundation, has characterized itself by its accessibility,” Cadieux wrote in her statement on the piece.
“Lierre sur Pierre serves as a platform to share Concordia University’s vision, which speaks of cultural diversity, access to education and openness to a diverse population of students through its excellent programs and teaching.”

This is not the first public art project commissioned from Cadieux. She is also responsible for the illuminated lips that sit above the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art.

“For many years I have been interested in public art and its urban domain, its visibility and the effects it has on its citizens.”

The piece will be in place by fall 2008, one year before the building opens its doors.